


Light's out

by AnniereadsStuff



Series: Writing something everyday [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Blackouts, M/M, Portgas D. Ace is a Dork, and a dumbass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnniereadsStuff/pseuds/AnniereadsStuff
Summary: When the lights go out in the middle of a normal office day, Ace has a chance meeting with Marco. Too bad Sabo had custody of the braincells that day.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Series: Writing something everyday [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050545
Comments: 12
Kudos: 87





	Light's out

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU Ace, Sabo and Luffy all share one apartment and three braincells. Sabo has custody of those, most of the time.

Ace hated winter. He had exactly three full-length pants in his closet (two of which were dress pants belonging to his work attire) and about as many long-sleeved shirts. His favorite hat, an orange cowboy hat that made Sabo groan in embarrassment every time he put it on, was mainly to keep the sun off of his head. And to look cool, of course. His freckles, which objectively made him even cuter than he already was, stood out more, when his skin was lightly tanned form the sun. And he preferred the beach over lounging at home in front of a fireplace any day.

The absolute worst, however, was the fact that it was dark by 4 p.m. and that the only light in their office building after that was from the high-strung ‚energy-saving wonder lights‘ as Thatch called them. And yeah, they might save tons of energy - Ace wasn’t in the finances department so he wouldn’t know for sure. But they also made some horrible, artificial, way too clean white light, and everything inside Ace hated this sort of light with a burning passion. If it were at least a little yellow, to make it feel more homey. But then, the office wasn’t supposed to feel like home. Or maybe it was. Their boss said to call him ‚Pops‘ at least.

„I hate this“, Ace complained, to which Haruta did something that sounded like a confirming hum. Or maybe it was supposed to be a non-verbal ‚Stay quiet‘. You could never know, this close to Christmas, when everyone just wanted to get their work done, in hopes of getting home just a little bit earlier. And Ace wanted to get home, too. Not because of the Christmas spirit, or at least not because of _his_ christmas spirit. He just hoped Luffy had given up baking for good, this time. Luffy wasn’t to be trusted with an oven, alone. (Curse Sabo’s longer work hours in the toy store.)

Maybe he could call Zoro, who was sitting at home because of the pandemic anyway, to keep his little brother some company - and hopefully out of the kitchen. And just when he went to dial the number, looking over the document on his desktop to seem busy, everything went dark. Which effectively killed his phone line on his desk and his computer. And everyone else's.

„OH NO“, Haruta screamed and then wailed and then did something that sounded suspiciously like hitting the computer. All in vain of course, because it wasn’t her computer acting up, it was the office’s power that went out. Finito, dead. No more electricity for them. Ace did, however, understand Haruta’s anguish and would have very much liked to scream out his own, too. When was the last time he saved the document he was writing? Did he even save it at all?

Running his hand through his hair, he surpressed a deep sigh. Then, he tried clicking a few keys on his keyboard and pressed the big power button on his computer. All for nothing, of course, it wasn’t like his computer could come back to life magically. But at least he can say he tried something.

„Well, someone has to go up and talk to the techs“, Jozu said, ever the diplomatic one, while Haruta still threw curses and pleads at her computer in the background. Or maybe she was praying to god. Ace could only see schemes, barely illuminated by the street lights from the outside, so he couldn’t be sure. Well at least it wasn’t a general blackout in the entire city. If it was only their office, maybe this could be fixed quickly. (Or maybe Ace was just dreaming, because he wanted to believe in it.)

„I’ll go“, he volunteered because he didn’t have anything good to do anyway. And he got jittery when he sat around too long without anything to do. Might as well put that energy to use.

„I think I have a flashlight here somewhere. Just give me a second“, Jozu said, at the same time that Ace had fished out his smartphone from his pockets and turned on the integrated flashlight. When he shone it in Jozu’s direction, he earned a mildly annoyed look. Haruta found some brief joy in this, if her little giggles were any indication, before she returned to praying again. Or whatever it was she did.

„Suit yourself“, Jozu grumbled and Ace thought it was better not to answer. No need to wake sleeping dragons. Or mess with the already annoyed, undefeated champion of their local wrestling school. It was the same, in the end.

And so he made his long, long way upstairs, to where the ‚techs‘ were sitting. Which really, it was only three stairs, but these stairs seemed way longer than Ace remembered them being. Which might or might not have something to do with the fact that Ace hasn’t used the stairs since he had his job interview, almost a year ago. It’s not his fault that the elevator was both faster and way more comfortable. (He was so used to riding the elevator, that he had already pushed the button when he remembered that no electricity also meant no elevator.)

So he used the stairs. And when he arrived at the top, he took a second to catch his breath. No need to let the techs think he was about to collapse just because of some stairs. He was very fit, but maybe he should be thinking of going to the gym more regularly. He paid for that membership after all. With Sabo’s student discount, but still.

„You don’t sound too good. Do you have asthma?“, someone asked concerned and Ace would have screamed in shock. If he had the lung capacity for that. (Maybe the gym was more necessary than he thought.) Instead he took his phone to shine some light on his mysterious company. Who wasn’t so mysterious. Everyone who ever worked in a Whitebeard Company or a daughter branch (of which there were suprisingly, a lot) knew Marco. He was the right-hand man after all.

‚Our Vice Captain‘ Thatch had once joked, like they were sailing on a marine ship, instead of being in an office. Or maybe like pirates. Ace liked the pirate comparison better, if only because it sounded less boring. And Marco definitely would fit the sort of pirate you saw in the movies, just by his looks. Except that Marco was also well-mannered, extremely friendly and very welcoming. If Newgate was their ‚Pops‘, Marco was like the big brother. Which was both nice, because Marco always had an open ear for their concerns, and very unfortunate, because Marco was possibly the most attractive guy Ace has ever seen.

„No I don’t have asthma“, Ace answered after ruling his breathing in, „I’ve just been missing the gym a lot lately.“ And then he threw one of his most charming smiles at Marco, because flirting couldn’t possibly hurt anyone. The next second, he realized it did effectively nothing, because the light was still out. Damn the heavens, he had Marco for himself, for once, and he couldn’t even use his best-selling factor - his looks - because there was no light. (He probably wouldn’t have looked good in the office light, anyway. But it would have been worth a try.)

„Pre-Christmas stress?“, Marco asked and he sounded honestly interested. No one who ever asked that question was so interested, it was just a conversation starter. But Marco was so damn considerate and nice, of course he would care about Ace’s stress. Even though Marco probably had way more stress, than Ace could even imagine. God, he wished his stupid puppy crush wasn’t in the way of what could otherwise be a great friendship. But Ace has never been good at choosing his crushes. (Not that he ever did much choosing, in the first place.)

„Yes and no“, he answered honestly, „we -me and my brother - just got our youngest brother out of the foster system to live with us. And now I’m trying to provide for him and not go completely mad. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lu, he just creates a lot of chaos. He’s always well intended though, so I can’t really be mad at him. And Sabo - my other brother - is a university student, so he can’t really work full time. He offered to stop studying, but I don’t want him to give it up and now I’ve been working here for almost a year and even though you’re all really nice I haven’t made a real connection with anyone and it’s just. So much.“

He was rambling, he realized and then desperately tried to reign in the words. No need to bother Marco with this anyway. Hell, he’s only really talked to the guy twice (three times, if you counted the job interview) and now he was complaining about all the problems in his life. Which, admittedly felt good, even if he was a bit ashamed. Marco, for his part, still looked like he was deep in thought and Ace couldn’t blame him. What do you say when someone, who is basically a stranger pours out their soul to you?

„I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you“, Ace quickly added and Marco flashed him a small smile for that. Ace would bet everything it was one of these its-okay-i-understand-completly-smiles that he’s seen on Marco so many times before. Not that stalked the guy. He just happened to look at Marco whenever he was in the same room as Ace. (In his defense, Marco was _really_ attractive.)

„You sound like you have a lot on your mind. How about we talk it over with some coffee“, Marco suggested and Ace had to chant ‚ _It’s not a date_ ‘ over and over again in his mind. Marco was just a nice guy, who wanted to help. And coffee and a talk in the break room didn’t qualify as a date anyway. No matter how long Ace’s dry spell went on.

Wait.

„Doesn’t the coffeemaker in the breakroom, also require electricity?“, Ace wondered, more to himself than to Marco. He got an answer anyway.

„I thought about a nice little café downtown. It’s one of my favorites“, Marco said nonchalant and Ace thought he could see him shrugging his shoulders. _It’s not a date,_ he reminded himself again, because he really it sounded like one. It wasn’t of course. Marco was just considerate. Which made Ace want to date him even more. Still a talk and some coffee sounded nice and getting Marco’s company on top of it sounded even nicer. If only he didn’t have to work.

„I’d like to really, but I also have to finish up some documents and I promised Jozu to check with the techs about the blackout.“ He hated himself so much for having to refuse. _Duty is the death of love_ a little voice in his head - that sounded suspiciously like Sabo - sang. They really should watch less Game of Thrones. (Ace and Luffy watched it. Sabo read the books and threatened to spoil it, when he was annoyed at them.) Still the voice was right, even though he loathed to admit it. He really needed the job.

„I checked with the techs actually. It’ll take a few more hours. ‚Pops‘ is sending everyone home as we speak“, Marco said an his grin might have been smug, but Ace couldn’t be sure. Damn those outside lights, whose shine barely reached that floor. But also, praise Newgate and fate and maybe even god for granting him the chance for a real talk with Marco.

„Then yes, gladly“, he agreed, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. He didn’t really care, this was the best thing that happened to him all month. (Second best thing that year, too. Best was, finally getting permission to have Luffy live with them and him moving in. But Marco came close.)

The evening talk over coffee at Marco’s favorite café moved to third best thing that happened that year, when Marco kissed him three weeks later, at the company’s christmas party. And exactly one year after that fateful blackout, when Marco brought Ace some of his favorite sweets for their ‚One Year Anniversary‘ Ace’s shocked proclamation („Wait, so it WAS a date!“) brought Marco to tears. Of laughter, of course.


End file.
